The assassination of Caligula (January 24, AD 41)

At noon on January 24, AD 41, during games in the palace, the Praetorian tribune Cassius Chaerea and his comrade Cornelius Sabinus killed Caligula in a covered corridor. Suetonius gives two versions of the course of events; Josephus left the fullest account (Antiquities of the Jews 19.1). The conspirators included commanders of the Guard, the freedman Callistus and some senators.

The assassins also killed the emperor’s wife Caesonia and his daughter. The Senate wanted to restore the Republic, but the Praetorians led Claudius out of the palace and hailed him emperor.